ABA Online Bird Photo Quiz 48

Answer

Frequent participants in the online photo quiz know that we tend to focus on structural clues in identifying birds. Many of these are found on the shape and size of a bird's bill. Of course, there are times in the field when you can't see a bird's head (and even more times when the bill is hidden in a photo quiz!).

In this case, there are three things that could/should stand out. First, this bird has a bright red rump, along with some reddish tones to the head and mantle. Second, this bird has relatively long wings with several primaries extending far beyond the tip of the tertials. Third, the bird is perched on what appears to be a fairly substantial amount of the white stuff—snow.

One group of birds should come to mind—finches. True, there are other birds that share these characteristics, but finches are frequently seen in the snow, have long wings and often have red in their plumage. If we can't find our bird there, we can always return to other groups.

Since the wings were helpful in bringing us to plumage, let's look at them more carefully. I know what you may be thinking—there isn't much else to look at—no wing bars, no broad edges to the tertials, in fact there appear to be no markings at all to the tertials. What can we look at! In this case, the absence of these markings are exactly what is useful. The great majority of finches have obviously patterned tertials. In fact, only one North American finch has dark brownish wings with no markings on tertials and greater coverts—Red Crossbill.

The red rump fits Red Crossbill, as does the more diluted red cast to the upperparts and head. If we need anything else, look closely at the pattern of the undertail coverts—bright white with some kind of dark pattern. That, too, fits Red Crossbill, which has white undertail coverts with dark centers to each feather.

This Red Crossbill was photographed in Hamilton County in Upstate New York, February 2007.

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The following people (listed by submission date beginning with the earliest) submitted correct answers for the March Bird Photo Quiz—Red Crossbill:

kevin bolton, Prospect Park N.J

Brian McAllister, Saranac Lake, NY

Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA

Petro PynnÃ¶nen, Helsinki, Finland

Aaron Bilyeu, Placerville, CA

Karl Erich Mayer, Saint Clair Shores, Michigan

Mikey Lutmerding, Frostburg, Maryland

Karen Rubinstein, New York, NY

Brandon Percival, Pueblo West, CO

Nick Anich, Ashland, WI

Sam Collins, Vancouver, BC

E.J. Raynor, fairfield, ct

John Bissell, Grimes, IA

Diana Bradshaw, Damascus, OR

Jessica Bruland, Damascus, MD

Rich Swartzentruber, Salem, Oregon

Ed Harper, Sacramento, CA

David Perpinan, Barcelona, Spain

Kevin Kerr, Guelph, ON

Alex Ewing, Rocky Hill, NJ

Kevin M. Kincaid, Indianapolis, IN

David Bell, Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Wayne Meyer, Denison, TX

Stephen Joly, Kamloops, BC

Mike Burrell, Heidelberg, Ontario

Bernard Grossman, Rexford, New York

Pat Paternostro, Uniontown, Oh

Sam Galick, Flemington, NJ

Matt Pike, Baghdad Iraq

Nels F. Thompson, Owatonna, MN

Andrew Keaveney, Guelph, ON

Vaughn Morrison, Todd, NC

Nathan Swick, Chapel Hill, NC

Sam Pratt, Inman, SC

Tom Auer, Allouez, MI

Grant Rettig, San Luis Obispo, CA

Melissa Hein, North Branch, MN

Ethan Kistler, Newton Falls, Ohio

Michael Miller, Chicago, Illinois

Aaron Barriger, Meriden,CT

Don Koch, Salineville, Oh

Brendan Fogarty, Garden City, NY

JoHanna Stahl, Fordville, North Dakota

Chris Warren, Portland, OR

Ian Davies, Medford, MA

Bill Glenn, Las Cruces, NM

Jim Pawlicki, Williamsville, NY

Jim Mountjoy, Galesburg IL

Marcelo Brongo, Barcelona, Spain

Dave Nurney, GB

Haynes Werner, Beaufort, SC

David Irons, Eugene, OR

Phoebe Mundall, Tai Chung, TAIWAN

Rob Fergus, Perkasie, PA

Steven Mitten, Belize City, Belize

Seabrooke Leckie, Toronto, Ontario

Jennifer Perry, Deerfield, NH

Steve Hampton, Davis, CA

Olivier Barden, Quebec City, Qc

Joshua Covill, Columbia Falls, MT

Joshua D. Kreitzer, Enterprise, UT

Charlie Corpening, Cumming, Georgia

Nell haberman, Portland, Oregon

Alan J. Knue, Seattle, WA

Sarah J. Zastrow, Riverdale Park, MD

lenny warren, topsham,me 04086

Terri Everett, Big Rapids, MI

Johanna Wielfaert, Britton, MI

Ben Coulter, Erie, PA

Susan Powell, Williamsburg, Virginia

Marlene Jay Cashen, Veradale, Washington

Robert Mottershead, Philadelphia, PA

A. McAndrews, Xalapa, Veracruz

Gerald J Brow, Cedar Michigan

Rick Poulin, Ottawa, Ontario

Edward Raynor, NY, NY

Harry Hooper, Tallahassee, Florida

Malkolm Boothroyd, Whitehorse, Yukon

Lowell Young, Mariposa, CA

Pam Baum, Tucson, AZ

Cole Wolf, Albuquerque, NM

Rhys jones, Waunfawr, UK

Szilard Daroczi, Targu Mures, Romania

Marc Ribaudo, Woodbridge, Va

Steve Steimel, Severna Park, Md.

Louie Toth, Fairview Hgts, IL

Francesc Jutglar, Cardedeu, Spain

Greg Gillson, Hillsboro, Oregon

Tim Hochstetler, millersburg, OH

Henry Wilton, Rutland, VT

Joseph Lautenbach, Grand Rapids, MI

Thomas Snetsinger, Brownsville, OR

Sabrina Himschoot, Jonesboro, AR

Andrew Deegan, Huntington, VT

Greg Zupansic, Eugene, Oregon

Kevin Welsh, Novi, Michigan

John G Anderson, Reno, NV

Jacob Saucier, Baton Rouge, LA

David Copplestone, Lakefield, Ontario

Sulli Gibson, Northfield, Illinois

Eleanor Proctor, Peterborough, Ontario

Philip Stahl, Fordville, Norh Dakota

Oscar Johnson, Santa Barbara, CA

Matthew Schneider, Silverton, OR

John Habig, Carlisle, Ohio

Robert Doster, Albuquerque, NM

Anne Brown, Durham, NC

Jon Atwood, Keene, NH

Ryan Dudragne, Swift Current, SK

Jonathan D. Lautenbach, Grand Rapids MI

Julia Marko Dunn, Newmarket, Ontario

Blue Rubinstein, New York, NY

Andre Pelletier, La Prairie, Quebec, Canada

James P. Smith, Amherst, MA

Jeff Hole, Orlando, FL

Myles Falconer, Lakefiled, ON, Canada

Ben Young, Salem, OR

Susannah Lerman, Amherst, MA

How Did You Compare?

As stated in the quiz rules, answers must consist simply of the Common or English name exactly as it appears in the ABA Checklist.

The following list shows the number of submissions for each species guessed.